Tilt screen - laptop freezes

Qtx · 30-06-2014, 12:50

Not sure if the problem is the screen, a ribbon or something else but wondered if anyone else had seen these symptoms before. This is a Sony vaio laptop.

Turn laptop on, screen does't power on and after 30 seconds laptop powers off again.

Tilt screen to a different angle, laptop boots in to windows and works fine.

Tilting the screen or moving the laptop (causing screen to wobble a minute amount) once booted in to DOS or windows either causes it to reboot, sometimes with lots of diagonal lines across the screen first, or it just freezes .

Only found out through luck that the laptop does actually work, it was considered as dead as a dodo before being given to me

qasdfdsaq · 30-06-2014, 14:15

How does it behave when connected to an external screen?

Usually the screen output on a laptop's internal display is mostly passive, IOW nomatter what you do to the screen including disconnecting it completely or putting a hammer through it should not affect or break the function of the rest of the computer.

I'm inclined to suspect movement of the screen affects some other, more crucial component in the machine, rather than the screen itself causing the problem.

Qtx · 30-06-2014, 15:41

Connected it via hdmi but can't get it to switch the display to it using the function keys. It was while connecting it up via hdmi that the laptop screen actually worked for the first time and it took a bit more testing to realise it was just to do with moving the laptop rather than the external connection lol.

You might be right about it being another component as I pressed the mouse button on the touchpad a bit harder than I had done previously as a click hadn't registered and the same thing happened. Looks like i'll have to take it all apart to have a look but got a feeling thee won't be anything visible. Guessing this could be caused the motherboard having a small crack somewhere, from maybe being dropped or something and pressure or a small flex of the board is enough to cause the problem?

I had already tried reseating the memory so it's not that.

heero_yuy · 30-06-2014, 17:39

Some of the Vaio's (including mine ) have an issue with the soldering on the second memory socket. Worth a look as the effect comes and goes.

qasdfdsaq · 30-06-2014, 17:48

Could be. It also happened quite frequently with the NVidia 9xxx series of mobile chips owing to the notorious "bad bumps" problem. Reflowing the whole board might help, and could be a fun experience...

On the other hand I also came across a laptop that did the same once, thanks to the CDROM retainer screw coming loose and being magnetically attached to a power regulator choke. Pressing the case in a certain area caused the screw to short the contacts, causing the machine to crash or shut down. That was a fun but easy one to diagnose once I got the case open!

Qtx · 30-06-2014, 18:35

Thanks for the ideas, given me something to look out for once I get a chance to take it apart

Must get a hold of one of a butane torch to give reflowing a try sometime, it does indeed look fun

Looks more fun than how I fixed a friends dead original xbox, by wrapping it in 4 towels blocking the ventilation and letting to overheat for 45 minutes

heero_yuy · 30-06-2014, 18:48

I have a number 8 (hot!) fine bit on my Weller TCP and some fine solder for retouching sm joints. Fortunately the joints that I could access via the memory slot were the troublesome ones. Soldering was appaling, didn't look as if it had flowed properly and the socket itself looked substandard compared to the one for the first bank.

Dash: CF noob · 30-06-2014, 19:14

I would strip down and check ribbons and connectors first.

qasdfdsaq · 30-06-2014, 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qtx

Thanks for the ideas, given me something to look out for once I get a chance to take it apart

Must get a hold of one of a butane torch to give reflowing a try sometime, it does indeed look fun

Looks more fun than how I fixed a friends dead original xbox, by wrapping it in 4 towels blocking the ventilation and letting to overheat for 45 minutes

I was thinking more shove it in an oven >_>

Qtx · 02-07-2014, 20:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

I was thinking more shove it in an oven >_>

Had to look that up...interesting

Took the laptop apart , checked all the connections/ribbons and had a little push down on all the chips. Same thing happened when moving the lid or too much pressure on the case, the times I could actually get it to boot.

Took one of the memory sticks and it booted fine every time and no amount of moving the screen or wiggling cables would get it to freeze. Inserted the memory stick again and problem was back

After trying every combination of memory sticks and positions it seems the problem only occurs if there is memory in a particular slot (one furthest from the motherboard), rather than one of the sticks being at fault. Did the magic press all around but nothing made any difference. Can't see any breaks or splits on the connector or board (but there must be a thin one somewhere), so for now i'll just get a single 4GB (seen some for sale for about £30) stick to get him going. Sony told him they had no idea what the problem was and that he would have to buy a new motherboard for £250 to see if that changed anything and if not they would then have to chance the screen. It's only an i3 2.4ghz so would be better off getting a new laptop for that price.

qasdfdsaq · 03-07-2014, 00:41

Yikes. Curious though - what model was it exactly?

It's not unknown for the memory socket to go bad or even the memory controller, but I do wonder if a memtest would have picked something up sooner (on the occasions that it would actually boot)

If you have time and feel so inclined I'd try reseating the CPU as well if possible (given the memory controller is in the CPU). Just in case it's something fixable.

Qtx · 03-07-2014, 09:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Yikes. Curious though - what model was it exactly?

It's not unknown for the memory socket to go bad or even the memory controller, but I do wonder if a memtest would have picked something up sooner (on the occasions that it would actually boot)

If you have time and feel so inclined I'd try reseating the CPU as well if possible (given the memory controller is in the CPU). Just in case it's something fixable.

It's a Sony Vaio VPCEA range i3. The exact vpcea model escapes me at the moment, need more caffeine this morning!

Managed to get Sony's inbuilt hardware tests to run early in testing but they didn't do a proper memory test. If I can get it to boot up again with the two sticks in i'll do the memory tests and see if anything comes up although I'm doubting it will. Had problems getting it to boot my multi-iso usb pen with all those kind of tools on, so i'll have to find one of those old fashioned cd things

I'll try reseating the cpu although it does have a brace over it with 4 screws holding it and a heatsink in place and then an extra screw for luck. Didn't do it yesterday as I had already had a pile of about 24 tiny screws and then came across the memory slot problem. Also got that sneaking feeling that if I fiddle too much more, it's going to stop working completely, even with just the one memory stick in lol.

qasdfdsaq · 03-07-2014, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qtx

I'll try reseating the cpu although it does have a brace over it with 4 screws holding it and a heatsink in place and then an extra screw for luck. Didn't do it yesterday as I had already had a pile of about 24 tiny screws and then came across the memory slot problem. Also got that sneaking feeling that if I fiddle too much more, it's going to stop working completely, even with just the one memory stick in lol.

Meh, fairly typical for a laptop. The only worry you have is a lot of manufacturers have begun eschewing CPU sockets in favour of soldering them straight onto the mainboard...

heero_yuy · 03-07-2014, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qtx

After trying every combination of memory sticks and positions it seems the problem only occurs if there is memory in a particular slot (one furthest from the motherboard), rather than one of the sticks being at fault. Did the magic press all around but nothing made any difference. Can't see any breaks or splits on the connector or board (but there must be a thin one somewhere)

The faulty second bank, seems to be a favorite for Sony's. I couldn't find a faulty joint on mine but retouching all the joints I could get to fixed it. Didn't cause a boot issue but the memory would go AWOL intermittently from Windows.

I use a little trick for testing joints on gull-wing components and that is to take a dart and let the point tick over the legs down the chips. When it gets a sort of twang rather than a dull tick you've found the dry joint. Not fool proof but an easy quickie.

Qtx · 03-07-2014, 16:22

Great tip. Not sure I am up to the soldering job with everything being so tiny though, even if I found the problem. Those 122 legs on the memory socket are so close together and I can just picture a big blob of solder covering 10 of them that I make worse when trying to remove lol.

I'll try what you said and if I find something, i'll let him know and it's up to him if he wants to try soldering it, so it's on his head

Thanks for all the advice